Navan Driving Test Center under ‘enormous pressure’ due to Drogheda delay
Navan’s driving test centre is facing mounting pressure as delays to the long-awaited Drogheda Driving Test Centre continue, according to a local councillor.
The Drogheda centre, which was expected to open more than three months ago, remains unopened, and no confirmed start date has been provided by the Road Safety Authority (RSA).
Councillor Emer Tóibín said Navan is now under “enormous pressure” as thousands of drivers across Meath and the wider region are forced to rely on the local centre due to the ongoing hold-up in Drogheda.
“The continued delay in opening the Drogheda Driving Test Centre is simply not good enough. The RSA may ‘hope to have positive news soon’, but hope is not a plan and it’s certainly not a solution for the thousands of people left waiting,” she said.
According to the Aontú councillor, Navan currently has 1,378 people waiting just for an invitation and a further 1,149 already scheduled, with an average wait time of seven weeks. The Navan centre now has one of the longest waiting lists in the country.
“The reality on the ground is clear: Navan is under enormous pressure,” she said.
“For young people trying to access work, apprentices who cannot start without a full licence, carers, parents and rural workers, this delay is not a minor inconvenience. It is a major barrier to opportunity.”
“The RSA says there are nine testers in Navan, but in the same breath admits that testers are routinely pulled from centre to centre to plug gaps nationwide. That is not a sustainable workforce plan. It’s more akin to firefighting,” Cllr Tóibín added.
“The people of Meath, Louth and the wider region deserve a properly staffed, timely, reliable driving test service, not shifting timelines and empty reassurances.”
Cllr Tóibín is now calling for a “clear and fixed” opening date for the Drogheda centre to relieve pressure on Navan, and guaranteed staffing levels “ring-fenced” for Navan so that local capacity is not “quietly drained away.”
She is also seeking a plan to reduce what she described as the “unacceptable backlog” that is “locking people out of work and essential daily life.”